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Redefining Literacy (eBook Series Part 6)

With the technological advances of the 21st century does it make sense to continue teaching students with a 19th century mindset?, or do we need to update our concept of what it means to be literate in today’s world? [...]

Active Learning

I came across this video on Edutopia and just had to post it.  The video, Student Body: Classroom Exercise Makes Learning Lively demonstrates “four techniques for mental clarity” that can easily be taught to students.  Take a look:

We are seeing more and more schools cut recess and physical education from their curricula.  Such a shame [...]

Teaching eReading (eBook Series Part 4)

Up to now we have been considering the use of eBooks and PDAs for students.  This post will look at the use of this technology by teachers, and will consider its use as a direct teaching tool as well as an administrative assistant.

Teachers often comment about the number of tasks that must be accomplished wihtout an assistant.  At the same time, however, teaching seems to be one of the most resistant professions to change and the incorporiation of technology.  Frequently, the failings of technology in the classroom are not from a lack of funding, but from the incomplete “buy-in” from faculty to actually use it.  I have a few theories as to why that is—and it’s not just from inadequate training—and also some ideas about how technology, specifically, eBooks, eBook Readers and PDAs could become useful tools for teachers if they were in their hands, and also in the hands of the students.

Continue reading Teaching eReading (eBook Series Part 4)

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DNA in High School

I had long pictured working with DNA to be some abstract and complicated process that took place in far off labs by very experienced scientists.  Working with undergraduate students at Brooklyn College, though, they would tell me about their work with DNA and it seemed so common to them.

The other day I found the following video [...]

Getting a Word Ahead

word-ahead-logo Not too long ago, a regular commenter on this blog, Faiza Khan, let me know about her startup company, WordAhead.com – a collection of short videos that can help a person to learn some new words and even participate in creating the content.  Always interested in expanding my very own veritably voluminous vocabulary I decided to spend some time “playing” on the site and was pleased with what I found there.

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What Matters More?

What matters more – the memorization of answers to trivial questions or familiarity with the tools to find the answers? [...]

High Tech in Hawaii

cap1 Five years ago today, what is perhaps my favorite education news site, Edutopia, published an article, High Tech in Hawaii: The Real-World Relevance of Technology, about an elementary school in that was incorporating technology into its classrooms.  The article discusses how the school uses technology as a tool for learning and not simply for the purposes of creating “oohs and aahs” from visitors.  There are examples of what teachers were doing, but also how they were able to secure the funding for it.  Evidence that the students are learning in a holistic manner that is tied with the real world can be seen in the article and the accompanying video.

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History Lessons

It is fascinating to read about events such as the American Revolution in a French textbook … 1) History becomes compartmentalized into an abstract string of facts that is not relevant to the world in which we live today. 2) It fosters a seperationist attitude in American students which will become increasingly damaging as the world grows more and more globally connected … So what should be done about this? [...]

Inquiry-Based Learning

The Winter 2008 issue of Harvard Educational Review contains an interesting article by Pat Clifford and Susan Marinucci on Inquiry-based Learning.  Here is the abstract from the publisher:

In this Voices Inside Schools essay, Dr. Pat Clifford and Susan Marinucci take us inside a classroom engaged in “genuine inquiry.” As we follow Russell and his fellow fifth-grade scientists through their exploration of desalination, we witness the evolving nature of questioning, learning, and understanding in spaces of inquiry. The authors offer insights into three central issues: (1) the character of genuine questions for inquiry; (2) intellectual rigor as students grapple with real ideas in real ways; and (3) how inquiry can be adapted to meet the requirements of mandated curricula.

The article does an excellent job of explaining the nature of Inquiry-based Learning as a teaching method and addresses many of the common reasons for resistance to this method, such as the concern that it will not meet curriculum standards, that there is not enough time, or that the class will get away from the teacher’s control.

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